 Out of Hebrews chapter 11 I'll read verses 32 through 40 and we'll get into our study tonight Hebrews 11 beginning at verse 32. The writer says what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah also of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became valiant in battle turned to flight the armies of aliens women received their dead raised to life again others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trial of mocking and scourging jesson of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were son in two were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us and so as we continue here in chapter eleven we'll be concluding it today and I want you to notice with me that there are quite a number of names and events that are listed here that if I were to take time to look at them would probably take us another two months and I don't want to do that and so I'm going to basically just give some basic things about some of these events give a little more information about others and all and hopefully conclude chapter eleven tonight as we've been continuing in chapter eleven for the last three years and so I'm going to try and close it tonight but notice with me that as we come to the end of chapter eleven we have to keep in mind that this chapter has been a consistent exposition of faith all you need to do is remind yourself of how it began it began in verse one here obviously in chapter eleven by saying faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen and so faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we have yet to see so faith is composed of at least two things that we can be absolutely sure of one we can be absolutely sure of the future because faith is so certain that we are sure of the future as if it were the present and second we have an ability to see the invisible as if it were visible and what we've been doing is we've been looking at the heroes of the faith and we've seen many of them as we've gone through this particular chapter I think we've seen something like thirteen of them up to this point and each one of these people have been a model for us of faith each one of them were enabled to live in such a way that they were absolutely different we saw that God saw them as being righteous in Hebrews chapter eleven verse four we see that these people were those who pleased God in verse five and these are a people of whom God is not ashamed you see that in verse 16 now at this point we're going to bring a context for the reason of chapter 11 we need to remember that the Hebrew church is experiencing a mounting persecution Nero is about to bring persecution that resulted in tremendous tremendous pain in the church and the only way that they're going to survive is if they take their comfort through their faith in the Lord and so Hebrews chapter 11 is more than a short lesson of the history of faith as is true with all scripture was actually written in order to encourage them you see in Romans chapter 15 verse four Paul said whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope and so persecution is about to arrive with incredible fury and that is something they have to be prepared for now they had already been taught by the Lord Jesus Christ that they should anticipate this because Jesus said in Matthew 10 22 you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake in Matthew chapter 10 28 he said fear not those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell and so he was making it very clear to them that they would have the opportunity to be afraid or to have faith and thus he said to them you need to be prepared for what you're about to go through so in reality Hebrews chapter 11 is a life and death teaching for the Hebrew church it remains necessary even to this day because as we the church speak out against evil we're more and more often portrayed as reactionary anti-intellectual unloving non-progressive un-American easily led hypocrites and so we need to be aware of the fact that we too are going to be rejected by this world that's why we need to live in a dynamic certainty truly believing that God will see us through and we need to find our strength and our hope in him that's what Christianity is the Psalmist in Psalm 31 verses one through four said it this way he said in you oh Lord I have taken refuge let me never be put to shame deliver me in your righteousness turn your ear to me come quickly to my rescue be my rock of refuge a strong fortress to save me since you are my rock and my fortress for the sake of your name lead and guide me free me from the trap that is set for me for you are my refuge so as we get to the conclusion here of chapter 11 the book of Hebrews he concludes with a short reference to various saints of the past some of them are named many of them are unnamed notice with me in verses 32 through 34 that he begins with the list of six names and he also includes a general expression of various acts of faith and the names that he mentions are names that perhaps some of us may be familiar with he mentions Gideon Gideon is very well known for leaving Bibles in every motel in the United States he mentions Barak and he mentions Samson he mentions Jepta he mentions me David as well as Samuel and so we'll look at them briefly obviously each one of these people actually will take up a chapter at least of the Bible and for us to be looking at each one of these individually and some obviously much longer than that it would just take us a long time and so I'm going to summarize for you the first person we see is a man by the name of Gideon now Gideon is located in the book of judges in chapters six and seven and during that day they didn't have a king what they had is they had judges who were spiritual leaders so Gideon was a spiritual leader as a judge and he also was a military leader we know the story of Gideon we know that Gideon assembled some 32 000 soldiers in order that they might fight against the Midianites and the Amalekites and so in order to keep Israel dependent on the Lord God God took that 32 000 and he cut that army down to 10 000 but he said 10 000 is still too many and so he cut that down to 300 and these were separated on the basis of how they drank water from a stream and yet with 300 people God brought a tremendous victory to the nation of Israel now we've been at Gideon Springs Gideon spring numerous times and we've given Bible studies there on various occasions and and basically what the Lord was doing was simply delivering the nation of Israel through a man who had a simple faith in God and that's the point that he's making here it wasn't so it wasn't that Gideon was a great man it's that God is a great deliverer and so he refers to Gideon a man that we all know of first he he put out his fleece when God had called him and then he ultimately went out to do battle with these men at like I said a 32 000 strong military force that was cut down to 300 all of it was simply so that we might know that God delivers and it isn't the strength of man's arm and Gideon is a tremendous tremendous example of that you have another individual here by the name of Barak now Barak is found in the book of judges also in chapters four and five he was a general in the army of Israel now under his command Israel defeated the army of Cicera who was a commander under the king of Canaan this king of Canaan his name was Jabin he had oppressed the nation of Israel for 20 years so Cicera had a force a military force that was tremendous as a matter of fact he had what we would today call call a tank battalion he had 900 iron chariots and so with an army of 10 000 individuals through the spiritual help of of Deborah a judge Barak defeated the army of Cicera and so by faith he conquered kingdoms one of the more famous names here is Samson now Samson here Samson is found in the book of judges in chapters 13 through 16 and normally when people think of Samson they think of me no when they think of Samson they think of a man with exceptional strength because as you go through the book of judges and you see the the exceptional things that he would do you would consider him to be an immensely powerful man and I suspect that Samson was probably not a big and not an obviously ripped and strong looking individual sometimes we might think of Samson and if you have in your mind's eye a picture of him because you know that he performed such valiant things you might have within your mind's eye this image of a man who is very large and very powerful and ripped and all of that I suspect that he was built like an ordinary man who just simply had an extraordinary God but when you look at the life of Samson there are certain things about him that you'll see you'll see that he was immature you see that he was self-centered you see that he was prone to sexual temptation and yet in all of that Samson was also a judge of Israel you see that from early manhood the spirit of the Lord was with him and he judged Israel when the Philistines dominated them and on various various occasions the Bible records some of the magnificently powerful things that he did but he was a man who was very strong physically but very weak emotionally and spiritually this is a man who had eye problems he had he had an ego problem and secondly this is a man who had vision problems he was constantly after the girls and we know what happened with him we know that he had a young lady that he was in love with a Philistine girl by the name of Delilah very famous name and Delilah was basically like a spy for the Philistines they wanted to find out the strength of Samson and so she actually asks him a question related to that and I want to read to you what what she did because it's really an amazing thing it's found in in the book of Judges in chapter 16 I'm going to read to you about this not the whole chapter of course but maybe 99% of it no actually just a few scriptures it's found in Judges chapter 16 Samson went to Gaza on verse one and saw Harlett there and went into her when the Gazites were told Samson has come here they surrounded the place and lay and wait for him all night at the gate of the city they were quiet all night saying in the morning when it is daylight we'll kill him Samson lay low till midnight then he arose at midnight took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gate posts pulled them up bar and all put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron now afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose name was Delilah and the lords of the flistings came up to her and said to her entice him and find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him and that we may bind him to afflict him and every one of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver now check this out verse six so Delilah said to Samson please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you I mean talk about being open she's I want to know if I wanted to hurt you how I could go about doing that and so he begins to speak to her and he starts playing with her in verse seven he says if they bind me with seven fresh bows both strings not yet dried I shall become weak and be like any other man but of course that wasn't true she actually does that and calls uh says to him the flistings are upon you and he rises up and breaks them and so in verse 10 Delilah says to Samson look you've mocked me told me lies tell me what you may be bound with so he says that they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used I shall become weak and be like any other man and so she ties him up and says the flistings are upon you Samson and once again he he rises up and just breaks them off his arm like a thread and then in verse 13 Delilah said to Samson until now you've mocked me and told me lies tell me what you may be bound with so he said her if you weave the seven locks of my my head into the web of the loom and so she does that once again he rises up and she says you're mocking me so by now he ought to know that she's very serious but apparently he didn't have any wisdom and so finally she does what some women can do verse 15 how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me nobody's ever heard that right how can you say you love me I hate you you big monster you you have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies and it came to pass when she pastored him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that he told her all his heart and said no razor has ever come upon my head I've been a Nazareth to God from my mother's womb if I am shaven then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man and that was exactly what took place now see the thing is and many people will make the mistake of thinking that Samson's strength was in his hair I mean I've heard that even when I was a little boy that it was his hair his long hair that made him strong no he said I have been a Nazareth a Nazareth was a a vow that was made that he would abstain from certain things he wouldn't have physical relations he wouldn't drink he wouldn't drink alcohol he wouldn't cut his hair there are a variety of things because the the vow of the Nazareth was a vow of separation and so the point he had made is I have been separated to God since I was a child I've never cut my hair because that's part of the Nazareth vow while she now cuts his hair in the cunning of the hair it's not that his hair had the strength it is representing the separation that takes place now between Samson and his God and so when the hair is removed from his head when he is his shaven well notice verse 20 she said Philistines are upon you Samson he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free now this is one of the more powerful scriptures it says he did not know that the Lord had departed from him that is true in many people's lives you think that you can live in the flesh and still have the presence of God with you you think that you can continue on in the things that you do that are wrong and that God his hand God's hand will be blessing you but I've discovered a long time ago that that when I'm walking in the flesh when I'm not walking in the things of the spirit when I am entertaining that which is wrong ultimately the Lord will remove his hand of blessing from me and I ultimately reap what I've been sowing and that's what took place in him it's just an amazing thing that he did not even know that the Lord had departed from him because he had become so callous that he didn't even recognize when God was no longer pleased with him and so what happens well verse 21 the Philistines took him out and put out his eyes now the eyes he had the problem with the eyes didn't he was constantly looking at women so what did they do they just took his eyes out and they brought him down to Gaza they bound him with bronze fetters he became a grinder in the prison so what he basically did is he would walk in circles pushing this grinding stone as they had a they had a pull there that he would hold and push and that's what he did he was just seeing that life can be a grind when God has departed in verse 22 now wherever the hair of the head began to grow again after it had been shaven now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and rejoicing they said our God is delivered into our hands Samson our enemy when the people saw him they praised their God for they said our God is delivered into our hands our enemy the destroyer of our land and the one who multiplied our dead and so it happened when their hearts were merry that they said call for Samson that he may perform for us so they called for Samson from the prison and he performed for them and they stationed him between the pillars then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand let me fill the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them and the temple was full of men and women all the lords of the Philistines were there in fact there were about 3000 men and women on the roof who watch while Samson performed then Samson called to the Lord saying oh Lord God remember me I pray strengthen me I pray justice once oh God that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes and Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and he braced himself against them one on his right the other on his left and Samson said let me die with the Philistines and he pushed with all his might and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it so the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life and his brothers and his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zora and Eshtahal and the tomb of his father Manoa he judged Israel 20 years he fell prey to Delilah but he repented and as a result of that he was capable of bringing judgment against the Philistines now the next person that has mentioned in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 is somebody that we don't know much about really I mean most of us don't study his life his name was Jephtha and Jephtha actually as a judge preceded Samson he's found in Judges 11 what we know about him is he subdued the Ammonites this is a man who knew that his power came from the Lord and therefore he is used as an example moving on we have David David is one of the most famous individuals in the Bible whole sections of first Samuel and second Samuel are dedicated to him and it's very difficult for us to really just encapsulate an entire life so I can only give you a couple things and I think the most significant thing that I would like to remind you of is that he was a champion he was a man who according to first Samuel 1314 was after God's own heart God had allowed a king to be raised up by the name of Saul Saul was a man as scripture says who was head and shoulder above every man in Israel he's a very large man he was a handsome man he came from a good family but he's his heart was not with the Lord and it departed from God and when you study the life of Saul you see that and so God made a determination because Saul was was an ungodly king God said that he was going to replace him and he was going to do so with a young man by the name of David and so we see the life of David as it's revealed to us in first Samuel and there are so many things you can see about him so many things that are good and some things that are not so good but the one thing that that I think most of us are aware of with him is that he was a champion this was a warrior this is a man who loved God and this is a man who did battle against the most famous opponent that Israel faced during his day at least and that is the man Goliath now when you look at Goliath Goliath is described for us in scripture in first Samuel chapter 17 as a giant he was nine feet nine inches tall now that to me is pretty tall he's the kind of guy that was immense in every way he had a coat of male that he wore that weighed 125 pounds the spear that he used in battle was like a weaver's beam and the tip of the spear weighed 15 pounds this was an incredible opponent and we know what was taking place we know that David was watching the sheep we know that the children of Israel were arrayed in battle formation against the Philistines and that that Goliath would come out and taunt the armies of Israel on a daily basis and he would basically say why should we have a battle between armies where many will die send out your champion and he and I will go one on one and if I win you will serve us if he wins we will serve you and so daily this is taking place as he comes in he taunts the children of Israel now David was keeping the sheep of his father Jesse and so his father had said take some food to your brothers there and see how the battle is going and so that's what he does he brings some provisions for his brothers and as he's there here comes Goliath and he walks out into that field and he begins to taunt the nation of Israel and as David is watching this something within him rises up and he says who is this uncircumcised Philistine how dare he defy the living god this is a guy who just man this this guy who's just a he loved the Lord he said how dare he speak in such a fashion and so his brothers begin to speak to him say you naughty boy you've just come here just to see what's going on in the battle you have no right to be here David said what have I done to you what's the problem here and so as all of this is taking place David is saying I will go out and battle him well well Saul you know he's brought to Saul and and King Saul speaks to him a bit and says you know this guy has been a warrior since he was a child and and you are still a child you don't understand this is a suicide mission there's no way that you can go out and do something against such a powerful warrior experienced in battle all of his life and David speaks concerning how that when animals would come and attempt to take the the sheep from his his father's flock how he would rise up against him a bear a lion didn't really matter a wolf and he would take him out he said then this this Philistine will be the same as these animals that have come and attempted to take the sheep and so so Saul's thinking for a moment and he says okay then go out and do it you know better you than me so what he does is he gives him his own armor now David more than likely was the size of the average Jewish man during his day which means he was probably around anywhere from five six to five foot eight you know he was not a very large man whatsoever so that helps to compound the difference between David and Goliath Goliath who was about four feet taller than him but remembering that Saul was head and shoulders above the nation of Israel he was very tall himself so he puts the armor his armor on David but David's standing there and he's just like it's a little boy putting on his dad's clothing it doesn't fit and so he says this isn't going to work I don't want to do this and so what he does is he says let me just go out with with what I'm used to and so he takes his sling and he has five smooth stones now sometimes people will say well that's not much faith is that he had five smooth stones but only one enemy maybe he was afraid he'd miss the first time he slung no the fact is is Goliath had four brothers so he was taking the whole family out that was David's mindset I'll take him and his big brothers I'll take them all so that was his mindset and so as David goes out there and this is recorded in 1 Samuel chapter 17 as as the flistening Goliath is is taunting him David responds and this is what he said to the flistening he says to him you come to me with sword with a spear and with the javelin but I come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of Israel whom you have defied this day the lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you and take your head from you and this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a god in Israel then all this assembly shall know that the lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle is the lord's and he will give you into our hands and that's how he dealt with him in the bible says that that Goliath began to advance but David ran to him David ran straight at him and as he ran at him he took that stone he put it in that sling and he sunk it right in the middle of Goliath's forehead and when that missile hit him you know all the lights went out and he went down and the bible speaks concerning how David went and took the sword at Goliath and took the head of Goliath off of his body and lifted it up as a sign of victory and there was a great victory that took place there in the nation of Israel through this young man by the name of David and so one of the more famous figures in the nation of Israel's history a man who said that the battle is the lord's and that's that's what faith is now in Hebrews continuing he speaks again of Samuel Samuel was the last judge of Israel Samuel is the one who anointed king David and he was dedicated to serve the lord before he was born and he remained faithful over a lifetime his mother Hannah was incapable of producing a child and so she cried out to the lord and asked God that he might answer her prayer on one occasion she was praying and the high priest Levi saw her lips moving and as he saw her lips moving he got very upset and he walked up to her and he thought that she was drunk and he said to her how dare you be in such a condition she said I'm not drunken as as you may be thinking I am she said I'm just a broken woman because my great desire is to have a child and and so God honored her prayer and she gave birth to this little one a man by the name or a baby by the name of Samuel who became the prophet and became the last judge of Israel and this is a man that in scripture is regarded as one of the greatest men the last judge as he is the one who anoints king David as the second king over Israel actually he anoints king Saul and king David and so Samuel he continues so he says and I'll just read begin in verse 32 for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak Samson Jephthah also of David Samuel the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms worked righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions that reminds us of king or rather that reminds us of the prophet Daniel quench the violence of fire the three children in the fiery furnace escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became valiant in battle turned to flight the armies of the aliens women received their dead raised to life again others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were son and two were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us and so in verses 35 through 37 notice how he speaks of women who received their dead raised to life again what he's doing now is he's simply encouraging them to endure persecution notice that he speaks of people being tortured trial of mockings and scourgings he speaks of chains and imprisonment these are all especially relevant to the period that is called the period of the maccabees under the persecution that took place under the syrian king and tychus epiphanies and so he's speaking concerning that period of time that took place about a century and a half before christ and tychus epiphanies was likened unto the antichrist during his day or actually after him the church recognized him as being a type of the antichrist because of the evil that he did he came into the nation of israel and he and he went into the temple of god and he actually put up an idol there demanding that that idol be worshiped he was he was the one who took the pig pig's blood and poured it on the altar he desecrated the the temple of israel and the jews were afraid of him and they hated him he's the one who brought into the nation of israel the greek way of thinking he's he's the one who was used to halanize or to greecianize the nation of israel and and there are those who believe that it was during his reign that that the the Pharisees actually came into existence and and the reason behind that is one is the Pharisees as a religious group the name Pharisee speaks of the separated ones came up as a response to the greecianizing or halanizing of the nation of israel because when he came in he brought a variety of things including philosophy and the uh and the athletic games that the greeks would practice and and much of what they did was considered to be immoral practices and so they did that and as he brought that in the the Pharisees rose up in opposition to him and and during that time a century and a half before christ a group of people arose called the maccabees who overthrew him and actually took his his his bondage off of their shoulders and it's believed that that's what's being referred to here that persecution during the period of the maccabees notice in verse 37 how it says they were stoned they were sawn in two they were tempted they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute afflicted and tormented now when it speaks of this it speaks of the variety of persecutions that they endured they had the mockings the chains the imprisonment the physical persecution when it says in verse 37 they were sawn in two church tradition holds that isaac was actually killed in that fashion that he was sawn in two notice how it speaks of them in verse 37 and 38 wandering about in sheepskins goat skins destitute afflicted and tormented and the world was not worthy of heroes such as this and those who suffered in such a way were not worthy of the tortures that they endured and yet as he's writing this he's reminding them of something very simple guys and it's something that we need to remember too and that is that suffering is simply part of what it means to be called out of this world in 2nd timothy in chapter 3 verse 12 paul said yes they who shall live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution and one of the things that i've discovered about the lord is that in the midst of suffering and sometimes the suffering of rejection or maybe even painful suffering god seems to draw closer to us than perhaps almost any other time i used to wish i used to wish that when i gave bible studies that i could give promises to the people there promises like this where i would say to them listen if you come to christ you'll never have a bad day again if you come to christ everything's going to be great everything will be wonderful i used to wish that i could do that i wanted to but i have discovered that that's just not being truthful is it i mean i discovered that when i got saved instead of it being easier it progressively became more difficult and i just i started discovering some of the promises that the lord gives you shall be hated by all men for my namesake that's one of the promises that god gives the reality is is if you're going to live for the lord jesus christ well the world has a tendency of killing those that disagree with it and bottom line is is that we are in good company and that's what Hebrews 11 is to remind us of we're in good company there were tremendous times of pain and suffering and persecution that went on prior to the church and now the church is going through the same kinds of things we here in the united states do not suffer persecution to the same degree that you suffer it in other countries try and have a bible study in the open in saudi arabia and see what will happen preach a strong message about false teachers and speak that to a muslim crowd and use the name of muhammad and see what happens the bottom line is that you will be beheaded if you're in a muslim country the bottom line is you can lose your life for these things you can be imprisoned and there are stories after stories after stories of believers who have been harmed and and have not been removed necessarily from the painful experience but actually have even been martyred for their love for jesus christ and so the writer here is making it very clear that we are not removed from difficult places and different difficult seasons we're we're going to go through the pain and and that's simply part and parcel of being a christian you know when thomas in the new testament when thomas had been stumbled you know he believed that the lord jesus christ was messiah but jesus christ died on a cross and when jesus after his resurrection had appeared to the disciples the bible tells us that on the one occasion that that thomas was not present when jesus was there and so the people spoke to thomas when he showed up and and they said to him the lord was here and thomas says i don't believe that and that's where he got the name doubting thomas is i don't believe that he said because unless i put my hand in his wounds i cannot i will not i refuse to believe that jesus christ was resurrected i find it interesting that when jesus appears to thomas and think about it with me for a minute when he appears to thomas the only thing that he shows him was his wounds and it was his wounds that were to convince him of his love for thomas interesting he said thomas put your hand in the wounds that i have my side put him in the wounds that i possessed and and be not faithless but be believing what are you talking about jesus jesus is pointing something out to us that i think is very clear he's he's simply saying listen if you want to know the depth of of love i have for you then you need to recognize the depth depth of suffering i have endured for you if you want to know my love you need to see what love does and what love does is it is sometimes it will suffer the bible makes it very clear that jesus christ is the wounded healer and many times people will say i want to be like you there was a time when we used to sing a song make me like you lord make me like you but the bottom line is is when we're singing that perhaps we're failing to know what he is what he is and i love this phrase he is the wounded healer he was wounded for us he was broken for us he was despised for us he suffered for us he died for us and so if jesus christ resisted evil and went to the point of shedding blood why would i think that i'm going to be exempt from that and so the writer of hebrus is simply pointing out you have joined with those who have gone before you people of tremendous faith who have subdued kingdoms who have closed the mouth of lions who have endured the heat of fire who are warriors who are all of this but you need to understand that along with that comes the suffering that others have endured the pain and the struggle and all because that is part of being a christian and because the the persecution through nero is about to erupt in a way that is is is unheard of you need to be prepared now all you need to do is study what happened under nero who initiated the first of ten official roman persecutions against christianity to see what he's speaking about and as i've mentioned to you before it was caesar nero who actually would have people sewn in the skins of of animals and then torn apart by wild dogs it was nero who would dip the people in in pitch and then tie them to to a post and then ignite them as living torches and it was nero who would would heat up metal would be like an animal animal shape he would they would heat it up so that it was red hot they would open up a lid and they would drop a believer in and close the lid so that they would sizzle to death it was nero who did did that to believers and he's saying here there's there's a time coming that is going to be so intense you have to remember the the hall of faith you have to understand and remember your brothers and sisters who have gone through this before you you need to regard that because you have to have an understanding of what faith actually is and so he says in verse 39 and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith didn't receive the promise god having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect or complete apart from us though these that we read about and all these names that we just looked at and and all of those in this chapter that we've looked at a little bit at a time received so many blessings they did not see messiah in their lifetime these were those in the old testament who were looking forward to the promise you see when you read the bible you need to remember that the old testament saints were looking forward but we now as new testament saints look back they were looking to the future but we look back to the past they were looking for messiah to come we now have the the viewpoint of looking back to the fact that he did come so they were looking forward to the promise but we look back at its fulfillment and he says in verse 40 god having provided something better for us so the promises made in the past are fulfilled now in that we have been saved all the faithful of the ages are now made complete in jesus christ that's what he's saying he says god having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us so we are all made complete in him they were looking forward to messiah to come we look back as messiah has come and together in faith in jesus christ we celebrate the reality of our relationship with god my encouragement to you would be to spend time reading your old testament especially when you look at some of these heroes that are described here you know i have this tremendous i i keep going through this and i don't know perhaps i'll do this not tomorrow but soon i i i really enjoy the early chapters of of the old testament especially enjoy first and second samuel and first and second kings powerful powerful books my encouragement to you would be to spend some time reading those books they're unbelievable books in terms of just the the things that god gives to you and the lessons that he'll teach you because the old testament was written for our learning so that we might have hope and as you see what god did in the old there's this joy to know that those promises that they look forward to have been fulfilled so that we can say though they were looking for messiah we have received messiah and we have a relationship with god through our messiah jesus christ and that keeps us strong so that we might serve the lord with all of our heart we look back at the promise that has been fulfilled that god gave us his son whom we have embraced by faith and that strengthens us to go through whatever it is that we need to go through